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Mogsy’s Bookshelf Roundup: Stacking the Shelves & Recent Reads

Bookshelf Roundup is a feature I do every other weekend which fills the role of several blog memes, like Stacking the Shelves where I talk about the new books I’ve added to my library or received for review, as well as It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? where I round up what I’ve read since the last update and what I’m planning to read soon. Mostly it also serves as a recap post, so sometimes I’ll throw in stuff like reading challenge progress reports, book lists, and other random bookish thoughts or announcements.

Received for Review

Thank you to the publishers and authors for the following review copies received. For more details and full descriptions of the books, be sure to click the links to their Goodreads pages!

Lost Souls by Kelley Armstrong– A surprise arrival, but I knew I had to read it because 1) THAT COVER, I’m in love! and 2) Kelley Armstrong, whose work I vowed I’ll read more of in the coming year. And according to its description, the story is inspired by the urban legend of the disappearing hitchhiker. How awesome is that? Thank you so much to Subterranean Press!

The Adversaries by David Hair– As a fan of David Hair, I was surprised to learn he has a new book out that I hadn’t heard of, but the confusion was cleared when I realized Jo Fletcher Books is reissuing his Return of Ravanaseries under different titles. This is the sequel to The Pyre, a YA reimagining of the epic Ramayana following a trio of Indian high school students. I enjoyed the first book immensely and would enthusiastically recommend it to anyone looking for YA fantasy with diverse settings and protagonists. My thanks to the publisher.

Thunderbird by Chuck Wendig– My preciousssss. Totally psyched about this ARC of the long-awaited fourth book of the Miriam Blackseries. With thanks to Saga Press and the amazing team at Wunderkind.

The Dead Seekers by Barb & J.C. Hendee– I’ve wanted so long to read something by the authors, and with this being the first of a new series set in the same fantasy world as their Noble Dead Saga, I figured there’s no better time. My thanks to Ace Books for the review copy.

Upside Down edited by Jaym Gates and Monica Valentinelli– I’d also like to thank Apex Publications for sending along this cool anthology of inverted tropes in storytelling. They had several paperbacks that were a little too banged up to sell commercially so earlier this week they put out a call for any US-based bloggers who might be interested in checking them out as review copies. I was more than happy to give this wicked looking collection a new home and put it to good use! Looking forward to reading these stories.

Windwitch by Susan Dennard– While it’s true the first book didn’t exactly sweep me off my feet, I admit I’m curious to see where the story might be heading. I also want to give the sequel a chance, especially since I was presented with the opportunity to review the audio version, thanks to Listening Library.

Ararat by Christopher Golden– Another one of my most anticipated releases for spring 2017, I couldn’t resist requesting this one either. Definitely going to wait until closer to release date to read it though; right now it’s just too damn cold for a story about being trapped on a mountain in the middle of a blizzard. With thanks to St. Martin’s Press via NetGalley.

Freeks by Amanda Hocking– Also thanks to St. Martin’s Griffin for sending me an invitation to read this YA fantasy about a traveling sideshow circus. Looking forward to checking it out.

Nemesis by Brendan Reichs– I first heard of the author when he collaborated with his mother Kathy Reichs on the Viralsseries (which stars Tory Brennan, great-niece of Temperance Brennan who the show Bones is based on) so my interest was already piqued. But then I saw the tagline: Orphan Black meets Lord of the Flies. You’d think by now I’d be immune to book blurbs like that, but nope. Thanks to Penguin’s First to Read, I was also sitting on a boatload of points so I decided to request an ARC.

The Wolf of Allendale by Hannah Spencer– I’ve had this historical paranormal novel on my watch-list for a while now, so when the author contacted me earlier this week to ask if I would be interested in a review copy, I said absolutely! Hoping to read it soon in the new year. With thanks to Hannah Spencer and HarperLegend.

What I’ve Read Since the Last Update

My December catch-up is in full swing (which includes some SPFBO reading as well)! Being continuously sick for the last two weeks has slowed me down some though. Nevertheless, here’s what I’ve reviewed/will be reviewing soon.

Have you heard of or read any of the books featured this week? What caught your eye? Any new discoveries? I hope you found something interesting for a future read! Let me know what you plan on checking out. Until next time, see you next Roundup!

Worldshaker looks awesome (that dragon on the cover doesn’t hurt) and I’m kinda excited for both The Nature of a Pirate and Nemesis. Within the Sanctuary of Wings caught my eye too, I didn’t know about that one. And I’m about a quarter of the way through A Closed and Common Orbit… man I love that universe!

Within the Sanctuary of Wings is from the Memoir by Lady Trent series and it’s one of my favorites. It views dragons through a natural history lens so if that sounds like something that would interest you I highly recommend checking it out! I also hope you’re enjoying ACaCO, I think I like it even more than book one 🙂

Lost souls! I had no idea that there was a Kelly Armstrong novella coming out! I just found out about Nemesis, and Freeks is on my list to be reviewed soon — does it sound lovely? And i look forward to your review of the Upside Down anthology — it sounds like a brilliant idea for a book.

I haven’t read anything of Kelley Armstrong since the Otherworld series finished-I wasn’t really a fan of the YA books she did but that was more about me going off the genre than anything wrong with the author! I need to investigate a few of her mosre recent books I think. This is the first I’ve seen of Lost Souls so I need to find out more!

Ironically even though I am more of a speculative fiction reader/reviewer, I have not actually read any of Armstrong’s fantasy or paranormal books! I loved her book City of the Lost though, which was a suspense-mystery. I’m really interested in trying out more of her work!

If this is how you are when sick for 2 weeks, it makes my head spin imagining a fully charged Mogsy.
Is being sent books by the publishers something you sought out and something positive or is it a “duty” and draining? I had to stop at netgalley because I was finding that all the “you have to do this, this and this” for various books was killing my joy of reading.

I think I managed to polish off more audiobooks than print books – which makes sense as I was too out of it to really concentrate, but I liked resting while someone is reading to me in my ear 🙂

As for publisher-sent titles, I would say 80-90% of books that arrive in the mail are unsolicited (i.e. not requested) which definitely takes the pressure off. That said, sometimes something will arrive by surprise that I had already planned to read, or it might be a newly introduced book that interested me enough to check it out, so I will make an effort to read those.

For the most part though, bloggers will generally say that if it’s unsolicited the try not to sweat it. Still, I did used to feel obligated to read EVERYTHING sent to me, even those books that are surprise arrivals, but as time went on those goals became more and more unrealistic, especially when the submitted books start piling up and/or when I get sent sequels to books I haven’t read, etc. Eventually I had to learn how to not put that pressure on myself anymore, but it was hard because it goes against my obsessive compulsive nature! It had to be done though, or it will just suck all the joy out of reading, so now I mainly concentrated on books I request, and only tackle unsoliciteds when/if I can.

This is why I also enjoy doing the roundup posts; because I know there’s no way I can read everything sent to me, but I can at least try to give the books whatever exposure I can 🙂

I hold on to stuff that I hope I will read eventually and all ARC copies because I like to keep those. Books that I have no interest in on the other hand, I first try to see if I can pass them on to other bloggers who would like to read and review. Otherwise they are donated to my library’s annual fundraising book drive 🙂

Upside Down is a collection I’d love to get my hands on! I was also sent a copy of Worldshaker and am reading the first book in the trilogy now. It’s a bit daunting – so many invented species living for thousands of years.

I would be curious to hear your thoughts on on the trilogy. When the first book was sent to me, I admit I wasn’t very interested in the premise, but as the books come out, I’m getting more and more intrigued.

Uh. I’m basically forcing myself to finish. It’s the first time I’ve ever been sent print ARCs, so I feel like I have to review at least the first one. But urgh. I’ve given myself a set goal of how many pages to read a day before I can read something more fun.

I’ve been looking around to see if it can be read as a standalone, but I’m seeing “concluding volume of a trilogy” in some of these reviews, which makes me think no. The title is so alluring though, no? 🙂

“Upside Down” already caught my attention when I saw it mentioned quite recently: I’m very curious about the inverted tropes premise, since I love it when a writer takes a well-established theme and writes something totally unexpected 🙂

I hadn’t realized you haven’t read the Miriam Black series yet – you’re in for a treat! It was Blackbirds that made me a Chuck Wendig fan, I think this series is still my favorite work by him despite him having branched out into various other genres 🙂

It never ceases to amaze me how you go through so many books so quickly, Mogsy. None of these titles are on my TBR list – but I just glanced at your Goodreads widget and saw you’re reading Steeplejack!! *does a happy dance* I hope you enjoy it!

As for me, I kind of broke my holiday book-buying ban with Ted Chiang’s sci-fi short story collection “Stories of Your Life and Others” (now retitled “Arrival”). I’d the movie Arrival recently on Black Friday and liked it a lot – but I had no idea it was based on a short story. So when I noticed the book was 20% off at Target, I figured, “Why not?”

Definitely, December is always a great time to take a breather because of fewer new releases…good thing too because there were quite a few books released this summer and fall that I still want to read badly!

Lots of promising titles here but I’m especially curious as to what you’ll make of Windwitch. I was a black sheep with the first book so I didn’t think I’d read the second one but if it convinces a few skeptics I might just have to give it a chance 😉

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Welcome to The BiblioSanctum! A Book Blog for Speculative Fiction, Graphic Novels... and more! Steff (Mogsy), Tiara and Wendy are proud moms, geeks, gamers and bibliophiles. We're always reading and yet, there never seem to be enough books! Our Goodreads lists are an eclectic assortment of genres -- and we love to share our thoughts. The BiblioSanctum is a home for our absolute love of reading.